Sometimes random thoughts on food and wine and the pleasures they provide.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Farmers' Market Menus

I don’t know if it’s possible to become addicted to visiting the farmers’ market, but I’m pretty close. It just doesn’t seem like the week goes quite right if we don’t make it to the farmers’ market on Sunday morning. It’s a great way to start the week, wandering up and down the rows, perusing all the variety of fruits and vegetables, tasting all the samples and just absorbing all the beautiful colors of the flowers and produce.

In addition to the nectarines, this was a good week for basil. The vendor where I usually buy a bush-size bundle of Thai basil for $1 each week had lemon basil this week as well. So I changed my routine and I’ve been using the lemon basil in pretty much everything. It adds a lovely, refreshing citrus flavor to salads and other dishes. I also bought three basil plants for my herb garden. I’m getting a late start this summer, but maybe I’ll have a variety of homegrown basils well into cold weather.

The corn pancake recipe was a very pleasant surprise. It came from a magazine called Farmers’ Market Cookbook. When I mixed up the batter it just looked like a bowl full of corn and I didn’t think there was any way it would hold together and make a pancake. Surprise! They were great. Light and fluffy and very intensely flavored with the sweet fresh corn. This is my version that is approximately a half recipe since I’m only feeding the two of us. We still had 12 pancakes, even though the original recipe said 12 pancakes.

1 comment:

My farmer's market here is on Thursdays and for years I have been always able to go, work got in the way, now that I have retired it is my place for the bulk of my groceries, really other than meat it is all there. Well you can get some meat, but I have a favorite butcher, and he would think I was ill if I didn't show up.Lemon Basil will do well in the house too, if you keep it warm and well watered, I have some that I just keep all year long, so always have fresh.